Debate contribution: Tackling Waiting Lists — Investment Plan
Debate contribution by Mr Mike Nesbitt on .
- MLA
- Mr Mike Nesbitt
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 6 May 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Ministerial Statements
- Heading
- Tackling Waiting Lists — Investment Plan
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4929497
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member, who raises an important point. Unfortunately — it is unfortunate, I think — there are no arrangements for patients who have already spent money on private treatment to be reimbursed, because the scheme will be open only to pre-authorised treatments, so we cannot work retrospectively. Like the Member, as a constituency MLA, I have been approached by constituents who ask, "I am on a waiting list for the private sector. I am about to spend a significant amount of money on a procedure. Should I hold fire?". I am not, I am afraid, in a position to offer that level of advice. We are working with the health authorities in the Republic, so, clearly, we cannot simply book blocks of its resource, and, as I said, we are still in the foothills of organising this. We are working urgently, which is why I say that the scheme will open next month, but, on what we will offer from next month and the sequence of procedures within that, we are not there yet in our negotiations with the Republic. I am sorry not to be more definite, and I understand what it is like to sit there, having committed maybe £15,000 to a procedure that is coming up in July, and wonder, "Could I save that 15 grand for my children or my grandchildren?". I get that, and we will get the answers as quickly as we can.
I welcome the Member's comments. Will Daisy Hill be a mega-clinic? If the question is, "Will there be mega-clinics at Daisy Hill?", the answer will probably be yes. The only mega-clinic that I have visited was at Belfast City Hospital. It is about using space and workforce on a Saturday. In the clinic that I saw, for example, a lot of patients who had been on waiting lists for a long time had come for validation, basically, to be asked, "Do you still need the procedure?", and, "Have you got worse over the years?". Patients also had their pre-operative anaesthetic consultation there. The patients whom I observed on that Saturday at Belfast City Hospital were told, "You will be in the Mater Hospital next week"; it is that good. At the moment, I do not have the detail on where the mega-clinics will be located, but I see no reason why Daisy Hill should not be on the list of prospective venues.
403 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.85).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.85 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.99 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:25 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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